Another Hong Kong corporation stops selling ivory

A third Hong Kong retailer, Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium Ltd, has announced it will no longer sell ivory products on its shelves, following fellow retailers Chinese Arts & Crafts (H.K.) Ltd (CAC) and Wing On Department Store. Prior to these announcements Wing On, and Yue Hwa were Hong Kong’s largest retailers of elephant ivory.

“Hong Kong’s three largest ivory retailers are leading by example and demonstrating the importance of stopping the trade in these products,” said WildAid Executive Director Peter Knights. “We applaud Yue Hwa for taking this important step toward protecting elephants by reducing the bloody trade and thereby lessening poaching pressures in Africa.”

Yue Hwa’s decision follows public pleas to end the ivory trade in Hong Kong and comes one week before the government is scheduled to begin burning 29.6 tonnes of confiscated ivory on May 15. Hong Kong’s ivory stockpile was originally 37.8 tonnes of which 6.5 tonnes has already been reportedly incinerated and crushed to test destruction methods and 1.7 tonnes was donated for CITES permitted uses.

“This is solid proof that government held ivory destruction events can effect positive change,” said Hong Kong-based WildAid consultant Alex Hofford. “It’s no coincidence that all three of Hong Kong’s largest ivory retailers decided to remove ivory from their shelves in the final hours leading up to the Hong Kong ivory burn. We encourage the government to continue their great work by banning ivory sales permanently.”

11 thoughts on “Another Hong Kong corporation stops selling ivory”

African elephants could go extinct by 2030, but in days, a body in charge of protecting endangered species could slap sanctions on Thailand, the key blood ivory market. Let’s race to put key representatives on the spot to save the elephants — add your voice now:

SIGN THE PETITION
Poachers just shot one of the world’s largest elephants, Satao, then hacked his 100 pound tusks out of his face with a machete. At the current rate of killing, elephants may be extinct in 15 years, but this week if we act now we have an amazing chance to crack down on the illegal trade that fuels the slaughter.

Each day, 50 regal elephants are butchered just to make dinky ivory trinkets! The main culprit for this carnage is Thailand — the fastest growing market for unregulated ivory. And tomorrow the international body created to protect endangered species has a chance to sanction Thailand until it cracks down on the elephant killers. Experts fear Thai leaders are mounting a propaganda campaign to dodge penalties, but it just takes Europe and the US to ignore their noise and spearhead action to end the slaughter.

Let’s give key European delegates, and the US, the global call they need to tune out Thailand and bravely lead the world to save the elephants. A final decision could be made tomorrow, so we have no time to lose — sign the petition, then send a message to the EU Environment Commissioner:

20,000 African elephants are killed every year, and the number of ivory products on sale in Bangkok trebled in the last twelve months. Government representatives to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have the responsibility to keep the world’s rarest plants and animals alive, and when sanctions were applied to Thailand twenty years ago, it forced the country to pass critical wildlife protection laws.

Thailand says it’s hard to distinguish legal ivory from Thai elephants from smuggled African ivory, and that it has adopted an action plan to stop the ivory trade. But 20 years of delays and a recent military coup tell a different story. If we reach out to the ministers who set the position, we can get the votes needed to prevent Thailand exporting items like aquarium fish and exotic flowers.

Right now CITES representatives are considering whether to sanction Thailand for its failure to stem the ivory trade. Let’s make a call directly to key delegates and the EU Environment Commissioner now to ensure they make the right decision. Add your voice, then share widely:

Last year, the Avaaz community helped force Thailand to agree to ban the domestic ivory trade. But Thailand’s new military government has done little to show it will fulfil this promise or restrict this bloody business. Let’s show the strength of our community by issuing an enormous call to protect the lives of one of the world’s most precious species.